Dry Campus Research Paper

Dry Campuses College and drinking have gone hand in hand for years. Whether it’s Spring weekend, celebrating the big game, or a Thursday night party, alcohol seems to bere the center of many social events. Because of this, my purpose is to promote moderate drinking on campus versus a dry campus, which is one where there is no alcohol drinking permitted on campus even for those students over the age of 21. Since all of us or someone we know, will be attending college, this is important information to know while making the decision about which college to go to. Alcohol use among college students has reached a crisis point. Alcohol consumption leads to signifigant alcohol related problems such as binge drinking, alcoholism, drinking and driving,
property damage, health problems, injury and police involvement.
According to a 2009 study (Hingson et al., 2009) 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol related unintentional injuries. Even more shocking, 599,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are unintentionally injured under the influence of alcohol. So, is the solution then, to completely can alcohol from college campuses, and institute a dry campus policy? Does the ‘just say no to drugs’ campaign keep people from doing drugs? The real solution is to educate students about the dangers and consequences of excessive drinking. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and alcoholism reports, “ that 44.1 percent-nearly half-of students in the 116 colleges surveyed were binge drinkers.” (2006) “Research has shown that what’s successful in cutting down college drinking is a slow but…comprehensive attack on alcohol use on campus that targets not just the drinkers, but aspects of college life that might encourage them to take the bottle-nearby bars, liquor stores and liquor advertisors.” (Park, 2006) Schools using education programs instead of extreme measures provide alcohol-free dormitories, alcohol-free activities and provide training to restaurant and bar staff about serving
college students (Park, 2006). With the right type of education in place, college students can be more responsible with alcohol. “The National Social Norms Research Center found that…out of 28,000 students at 44 colleges, 73 percent of student drinkers adopted practices such as using designated drivers, setting spending limits at bars, counting their drinks, and listening to their friends who say that they’ve drank too much.” (Park, 2006) Therefore, education about alcohol and abuse is a more realistic way to go instead of taking extreme measures like dry campuses. Alcohol misuse is also one of the leading factors of sexual assault and date rape according to another 2009 study, where 97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 were victims.
(Hingson et al., 2009) Furthermore, 400,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 had unprotected sex, and more than 100,000 students report having been too intoxicated to know if they consented to having sex. These shocking statistics lead campuses to ban the use of alcohol on their campuses. Except, eliminating drinking on college campuses is unrealistic because college students, like high school students, are subjected to strong social pressures to drink. Moderation is a more realistic goal for college students to avoid the problems of alcohol abuse (Krohn, 2000). America tried, during its history, to ban alcohol. This brilliant idea was known as prohibition. Prohibition did not prevent drinking, and dry campuses won’t prevent drinking. Therefore, drinking is a reality for college student, and it’s going to happen. Teaching students to make better choices about alcohol can prevent excessive drinking and the social problems that come along with it, such as academic problems, sexual assault, suicide attempts and alcohol abuse. The whole point of graduating college is to earn an education, not develop an alcohol addiction. Colleges can’t ignore or avoid the problems of drinking by having a dry campus policy. Drinking happens, and kids need to be educated on how to be able to deal with
it. There’s no easy answer to stop excessive and underage drinking. Education and teaching moderation is the best solution to controlling alcohol abuse on campus. This leads to solving the problem for students, instead of pushing it away and making the number of these statistics rise.